Total Newbie question

[zsima]

I am a total newbie to Node-Red. If someone can help me out I would appreciate it.

I got Node-red installed with Homeseer node and Alexa node.

To get started on the learning curve, I am trying to get Node red to have alexa announce the value of a HS device.

I got as far as the following but I dont know how to set up all parameters in Node-Red

[rmasonjr]

To make Alexa speak, you'll need to stuff that homeseer device's string with the text you want. I use EasyTrigger, but you can use other methods.
here's one I use

[ksum]

Have you seen this "How To" on this? You will use the newer contrib. The applestrudle one, I think.

How To Enable Alexa TTS Announcements for HomeSeer Devices - Products

[windracer]

Here's a simple one I did that announces when the garage door opens/closes:



The payload of "announce text" looks like this:

"The " & msg.nodeName & " is now " & msg.payload.status​

Which causes Alexa to say "The garage door is now closed."

[zsima]

Thank you all for your help. using the suggestions I successfully got Alexa to announce the status of my HS device.

Now my only problem is that the device I have is a time device ( 5:13:00 PM) and alexa is announcing "5 colon 13 colon 00 PM)

[windracer]

What if you change the payload string to be "5 13 PM" instead?

[zsima]

Yes I was using a HS device which was storing the daily sunset. I had to use the string function "Replace" and play around with Right and Left
until I got the string to be 5 13 PM. Now it announces properly

[windracer]

Glad you got it working!

[jjarvis728]

I have created by node as the example but when it goes to play Sorry I'm having trouble accesssing the node. I'm trying to say secure or not ready when the door is open(not ready) and then close(secure)

[rmasonjr]

So, you'll want to just create a flow that does nothing but read what is in the device's string:



In this example, the "Virtual Virtual Alexa TTS Speak Text" is a HS device that contains "Tomorrow is Trash Day. Please Take Out The Trash."

So, you would want to create an event to speak the text - that way you can speak anything:



So, you'll set the text that you want to hear in the HS device via an event and just let the Node-Red flow take whatever is in that device and 'speak it

[ksum]

I have created by node as the example but when it goes to play Sorry I'm having trouble accesssing the node. I'm trying to say secure or not ready when the door is open(not ready) and then close(secure)

When is it saying this? When you Deploy? If yes, it may be a timing issue. If when the HomeSeer Device Status changes, then do you know what Node it is trying to access and what is the rest of your flow?

[jjarvis728]

The flow is working correctly. It does what is suppose to do when you secure(close) the door and Not ready(Open) when the door is opening Node red is seeing the change. But when the goes to alexa it not saying secure or Not ready that what I'm looking for it to say. Unless I have the statement wrong above. Here is the flow that I'm using

[ksum]

The flow is working correctly. It does what is suppose to do when you secure(close) the door and Not ready(Open) when the door is opening Node red is seeing the change. But when the goes to alexa it not saying secure or Not ready that what I'm looking for it to say. Unless I have the statement wrong above. Here is the flow that I'm using

We will need to see what is in the Change node between the HomeSeer and Alexa nodes. I believe it should look like this, but this could depend on the Alexa Contrib you are using. You may also need to change the second SET item to contentType as shown in post 4 above if you are using a contrib which uses a different variable to tell the node what to do, as it appears the original post is using:

[jjarvis728]

Thank you so much that works. I really appreciate your input.

[jjarvis728]

I have a new issue with I use the example above for a new device and get the following error "Cannot set property of non-object type: payload.text" and the device will not speak